Place a deep pan over medium heat, add the butter and then the onions. Add salt and sauté stirring continuously. Once the onions wither and become soft (this could take up to 20 minutes), turn up heat to high and keep stirring until they brown.

Add the garlic and once you can smell it pour the brandy first and then the chicken broth. Finally add the bay leaves and some more salt and simmer for 30min. Keep tasting as you season with the pepper and thyme.

Smear the bread slices with olive oil and the garlic halves. Grill until crust. Remove, add the grated cheese and grill again until cheese melts.

Bon Appétit!

Food for thought

(sigh) This post should be France-related, and it would have if I hadn’t seen this:

“They cheered, they guffawed, they mocked. Picture the scene, and don’t forget it as the next two and a half years of Cameron’s Britain drag on: a smug pack of over-paid Tory MPs – some worth millions – sniggering as they prepared to slash the incomes of Britain’s already struggling poor. Labour’s Lisa Nandy and Ian Mearns pleaded with them in the Chamber, vainly, to stop laughing. Not since 1931 has a Government attempted to deliberately, consciously reduce the incomes of the poor. Oh, the hilarity.”

Two things here:

One is the nerve of the super rich to attack the poorest citizens and laugh about it like proper sociopaths and the other is the excuse they employ to act the way they do: deficit. Excuse me, but the deficit didn’t seem to be an issue when post-war Europe decided to rebuild itself. In fact, it’s not an issue at all. It’s merely the new Satan, Boogeyman, whatever you want to call it. More on this imaginary enemy in the next post. (Monsieur Depardieu, you’re off the hook for now.)